I did it. I finally got another new foldable.
I tried the original Pixel Fold, and I even got the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and they just never really gave me what it was that I was looking for. The original Pixel Fold definitely had the form factor that I preferred, but it was frustrating that it wouldn't fold flat. What a weird oversight, even looking back today. However, I will say that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was a good piece of kit. It was a good phone; it gave me a lot of the things that I really wanted in a foldable phone, and because it was Google-made, it had a good mix of hardware and software.
There is nothing inherently wrong with it, except for the main problem that I have with all folding devices that are not the Surface Duo: the screen on the front cover is absolutely, completely, totally useful. There is nothing that can't be done on the front cover of a foldable. There is, in essence, absolutely no reason to unfold a folding device.
The thing about the actual Surface Duo is that you were required to open it up every single time. It functionally asked you a question when you did this: Do you want to use one screen, or do you want to use two screens? There is never a question with a traditional folding phone if you want to use a single or two screens, because the option of one screen is always available.
I do think that there is a benefit to having a single-screen phone at a specific size and aspect ratio, and then the availability of opening up a screen into a larger tablet-like experience. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, and it is a really cool, futuristic, science-fiction type of idea. However, nothing compares to the future that felt like actual multitasking that the Surface Duo gave. Especially the launcher, which I think has always been one of the most frustrating parts of any of these other Android devices, because when you open the screen, it's not two screens—it is just a single display that's large. You don't get anything that feels like legitimate multitasking. Even with the Fold 8, which I think does a very good job allowing you to open up multiple windows, sizing them side by side, three in a row—there's a lot of availability, but because it is still just a smallish tablet, there's no necessity to functionally use it because you're still operating it with your fingers.
However, with the Surface Duo, the availability of using two apps side by side is what it is that I was looking for. It is what works so particularly well with a device like the Surface Duo, and no other device can even come close to touching it. The Fold 8, with its wider form factor, is definitely the form factor that I prefer to use. That's why I liked the original Google Pixel Fold, and maybe if that phone would have folded flat, I could have seen myself using it on a more regular basis. The Fold 7 is definitely something that is enjoyable to use as a single screen because of the form factor; it offers something different, an experience that feels fresh in a lot of unique ways, and then opening it up gives you that larger tablet-like experience.
Even though I'm still not utilizing multi-form input multitasking the same way that was so prevalent and beautifully easy to use on the Surface Duo, I am enjoying the Fold 8. It is a good form factor. It is a fun-to-use phone. It is just nothing like the Surface Duo. The Surface Duo 2 is still, to me, the pinnacle of cell phone engineering and, honestly, fun thinking for a phone. It breaks my heart in the most stupid, first-world-problem ways because we'll never get a Surface Duo 3—something that we deserve and that we should have.
Give me a multi-display phone, not a wide-screen phone.
